1-800-Flowers Shops for Groceries

In a move that further extends its reach beyond floral gifts, (www.1800flowers.com) 1-800-Flowers.com has acquired (www.greatfood.com) GreatFood.com Inc., an online retailer of specialty and gourmet food products, for $18.5 million in cash.
     "Greatfood.com fits very well with our strategy of broadening our non-floral product offering," says Jerry Noonan, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at 1-800-Flowers. With the market for gourmet and specialty food items exceeding $30 billion in retail sales in 1998, 1-800-Flowers says the acquisition brings a strong brand to its lineup of gifts for all occasions.
     Founded in 1995 and based in Seattle, greatfood.com features more than 4,000 specialty food items from more than 100 suppliers. 1-800-Flowers, an Internet pioneer, launched its retail site in 1995. Internet Retailer recently named it one of the top 25 sites in a special "Best of the Web" cover story in the November-December issue.